Type: Design, Landscaping & Maintenance

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Location: Essex, UK

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Project build: 2016 - 2017

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Contract: 2016 - present

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Designer: Matthew Dawson

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Hard Landscaping: Ryan Foster

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Award: Association of Professional Landscapers Awards 2020  - 'Garden Management - Best in Category'

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This has been an exceptional project thus far, we were initially contacted by our Client in 2016 to assist with a planting plan for a border. This border was a mound of soil the height of a bus and the length and width of a tennis court. Following a consultation with our client we discussed and formed a plan to create a dry garden.  We imported twenty five tonnes of boulders, laid cockle shell pathways and carved a walkway into the mound using oak sleepers, once the landscaping phase was complete our team of horticulturists worked on the planting scheme.

 

In 2017 we returned for the next phase of the project - a large open space, which was the former village cricket pitch and was in need of some imagination and creativity. This space was a complete blank canvas, so we took a pragmatic approach and looked at how we could create a garden whilst solving one of the sites biggest issues - drainage. The solution was to install a dry river bed, which cunningly disguised the land drainage channels and the soakaway we had installed beneath. From this point we could begin to plan the remainder of the garden, which included: large sweeping borders, a large formal irrigated circular lawn, two Koi ponds, which flanked the extended patio, a rose border and also a herb garden. The finished garden at Rough Hill won County Garden Management its first award at the Association of Professional Landscapers Awards 2020.

 

Rough Hill, is still a very young garden, many of the newly planted trees have yet to display their true presence - adding height, casting shadow and breaking up the large open space. The perennial wildflower drifts are slowly maturing, with so much more flora and foilage to present in the coming years. There is a long life ahead for this garden and it has been an incredible project to work on and now observe its becoming.  Our horticultural team visit the garden three days a week throughout the year to nurture the  space and support our client in establishing this special garden.